list of potentially relevant individuals. In the ''free list'' approach, they are asked to recall individuals without seeing a list (Butts 2008, p.20f).\n* '''Data Analysis''': When it comes to analyzing the gathered data, there are different network properties that researchers are interested in in accordance with their research questions. The analysis may be qualitative as well as quantitative, focusing either on the structure and quality of connections or on their quantity and values. (Marin & Wellman 2010, p.16; Butts 2008, p.21f). The analysis can focus on \n** the quantity and quality of ties that connect to individual nodes\n** the similarity between different nodes, or\n** the structure of the network as a whole in terms of density, average connection length and strength or network composition.\n* An important element of the analysis is not just the creation of quantitative or qualitative insights, but also the '''visual representation''' of the network. For Analysis gained even more traction through the increasing application in fields such as geography, economics and linguistics. Sociologists engaging with Social Network Analysis remained to come from different fields and topical backgrounds after that. Two major research areas today are community studies and interorganisational relations (Scott 1988; Borgatti et al. 2009). However, since Social Network Analysis allows to assess many kinds of complex interaction between entities, it has also come to use in fields such as ecology to identify and analyze trophic networks, in computer science, as well as in epidemiology (Stattner & Vidot 2011, p.8).\n\n\n== What the method does ==\n"Social network analysis is neither a theory nor a methodology. Rather, it is a perspective or a paradigm." (Marin & Wellman 2010, p.17) It subsumes a broad variety of methodological approaches; the fundamental ideas will be presented hereinafter.\n\nSocial Network Analysis is based on style="width: 33%"| \'\'\'[[:Category:Past|Past]]\'\'\' || style="width: 33%"| \'\'\'[[:Category:Present|Present]]\'\'\' || [[:Category:Future|Future]]\n|}\n<br/>__NOTOC__\n<br/>\n\n\'\'\'In short:\'\'\' Social Network Analysis visualises social interactions as a network and analyzes the quality and quantity of connections and structures within this network.\n\n== Background ==\n[[File:Scopus Results Social Network Analysis.png|400px|thumb|right|\'\'\'SCOPUS hits per year for Social Network Analysis until 2019.\'\'\' Search terms: \'Social Network Analysis\' in Title, Abstract, Keywords. Source: own.]]\n\n\'\'\'One of the originators of Network Analysis was German philosopher and sociologist Georg Simmel\'\'\'. His work around the year 1900 highlighted the importance of social relations when understanding social systems, rather than focusing on individual units. He argued "against understanding society as a mass of individuals who